How do you catch burbot??
 

Hey everyone, I've searched the internet and found as much as I can find about the elusive burbot. What tips can you offer a newbie ice fisher to swing the pendulum of success in his favour? I've tried at all hours of the night... I've used glow jigs/spoons... I've used different baits and scents... I've tried dead sticking and banging the jigs on the silty bottoms... I've tried deeper water and shallower water. What else can I do to find these fish or entice them to bite?? TIA for your help!!

No expert, posting for following and BTT.

I caught my same burbot this Year first week of Jan.

Shallow water 7.5' near a pier. There was some weeds that are almost flattened. Used double tailed white rubber wiggler. Earthworm.

Hit hard.

If you’re just looking to C&R, burbot bite well during their spawn (usually toward February and March) but you can’t retain them during this period in most Alberta lakes. But if you want to eat the poor man’s lobster, I’ve had luck after dark pounding silt with a smelt in 20ft near a drop off. It also tends to get easier to pique their interest the closer to the end of January you cut it.

It also helps for google search purposes to know that burbot go by tons of different regional names (eelpout, ling, lawyers, mariah, lake cod). Many diverse strategies for catching and cooking these beauties out there.

Good luck on your search for the fish that tastes better than it looks!

Its tough but if you could go back in time about 20 years you won't be able to keep them off.
The ravens were really fat back then....:)

Last couple days I have been having luck dead sticking with smelts. Bring them in flashing a Williams wobbler then they aggressively take the smelt when they see it

Thanks Swift. I've tried glow double-tails tipped both with and without a piece of smelt and no luck yet. Guess I just have to keep moving around!

I would like to taste the poor man's lobster if possible, but I'll settle for catching one even around the spawn. It will be a real accomplishment to finally catch one after targeting them specifically and not being successful so far.

Thanks for sharing the other regional names for burbot!

Do you use one setup with the dead stick and then in a nearby hole use a wobbler to add some flash to lure them in? Or is it just the wobbler with a smelt that you stop moving when you know they're in the area?

Separate holes. Lure them in with the wobbler then grab the smelt rig and move it a bit to get their attention. Have just gotten aggressive in the last few days

How do you catch burbot??
 

LMAO. Never heard that one. I call them lake-lizards.

If you’ve never caught one, or seen one in person, prepare yourself. Their ugly as sin. Think Sucker + Newt.

And their hard to kill. My first one I finally took my hitch receiver out and smashed his head in after a half dozen failed ‘bonks’.

The real treat is cleaning them, lol. Columbian neck-tie and pulling off a rubber glove with pliers.

For someone that’s never targeted them what would be a good depth/structure to start with especially at night?

Yup was fishing with a Newfie on the ice, he was about 30 yards away reeling in a fish, up it came and he screamed like a girl, fell off his bucket/seat rolled to his feet and said WTF is that....it was a very large lake lizard:)

We ate it....poor man's lobster.

Bang the bottom with a hunk of liver....they get aggressive and heavy on the bite February/March.

I have found them most often on a silty/muddy bottom near a drop off at 10-20ft. The bite really comes in waves much like jumbo perch. You might spend a couple hours not catching a thing even if you’re right over top of them and then everyone will be pulling them up as fast as they can get their hooks in the water with a pile of different baits and presentations.

When I go for burbs, I start about an hour before sunset and scout a few likely spots and then hole hop every half hour until the bite starts.

While I understand why many on here target fishing for burbs in twilight and darker hours, I focus on daytime trips for burb almost elusively every year. Rarely do I find night fishing or just before dark better than broad daylight. Almost 100% of the time I use a jig and minnow, and, I use a good underwater camera. The camera is invaluable in seeing one and knowing to get the attention of a burb that may otherwise swim on by. Plus, I find burb fishing pretty boring when I'm not seeing how they react. They are much more fun, in my opinion, to watch.

First ice is great right on through until spawn time. Of course it can be off the charts during the spawn on the right day.

A few links for bedtime reading on the subject.

https://www.outdoorcanada.ca/burbot-...primer-part-1/
https://www.outdoorcanada.ca/burbot-...primer-part-2/

http://www.in-fisherman.com/editoria...-burbot/153654
http://www.in-fisherman.com/editoria...-burbot/154709

Thanks Yote! I'll give it a try!

I'm looking forward to the challenge PlayDoh! :)

I'm trying a bait made of chicken livers and chicken blood which apparently works for catfish as well. No luck on that yet!

Where do you target them during the daytime? Deepest spots on the lake? I've read they come onto shallower shelfs to feed at night

I seem to catch all mine by accident not by design. lol but sure taste good

Not at all. They come in the shallows right from the get go. Besides, cameras are not really effective that much after 30FOW. Adjacent to the deeper water on a bit of a flat applies for sure. We have so few really big lakes so you have to use your imagination a bit but most lakes have something like this to start. A lake like Gull there are all over the place during the day. Not really hard to find there.

What I’ve always done this time of year is go to a few places that have big boulders and large rocks in shallow shallow water ..4 feet max ... if you can find a place like this you will catch burbs .. that’s just what I do ..

Thanks SNAP. I may have been focusing a little too much on the deeper areas, so I'll try more shallow flats

No problem. Just to clarify, 12-15 FOW is my most common depth. You will certainly find them in less as well but I prefer 12-15.

I've had some decent luck during the day catching burbot. I think they like the areas where there's a wall of fishing shacks, probably all the bait thrown or broken off laying on the bottom. I use anchovies on a treble, about 6" from bottom. They usual points, 12-15 fow, sandy bottoms usually but i'm not always with someone with a camera... Usually find a few during the day this way, but tend to find more after dark when staying the night.

I agree. I’ve caught a few this year in the day. All on sandy open bottoms in 12-16 fow. All of them went for my sebile vibrato over my buddies minnow.

Thanks for the suggestions. Where do you buy frozen anchovies?

Most of the time how I know a burb is near, is he starts pushing the camera around. He soon bores of it and grabs the bait. They sure are curious of cameras.

We were catching them during the day in 25' of water last weekend with anything on the bottom.

Appeal to the senses :
Loud
Glowing
Stinky

During spawn I use glowing Whistler jigs or heavy rattlers tipped with a minnow either fresh frozen or older with some stink and pound them on the bottom.

They come in and bite as aggressively as you'll get from then. Delicious buggers that they are.